Industry News and Notes 11/2007

Average Trainer Salaries Go Up Nationwide

Training magazine printed the results of their annual training salary survey and trainers nationwide are making a tad more than in 2006. The survey divided the states into six regions. Only the northeast regional average had declined from just under $90,000 to $85,517 this year. The average trainer salary was $81,940. The Pacific region had the highest average with $95,467. Pacific executive-level training/HRD manager also had the highest paychecks with $135,500 annually compared to $97,169 in the central region.

   The largest increase by industry was for IT training managers, up 42 percent with female IT training managers out-earning their male counterparts $108,222 to $68,100.

For more information, see an additional article at “Show Me the Money” at www.managesmarter.com/msg/content_display/training/e3i7c662d1d50136b68c031143113ae1de0.

California Wildfires Claim Blanchard Home

Ken and Margie Blanchard’s Rancho Bernardo home of 30 years was reduced to ashes by the wildfires in southern California. The couple were in Florida during the blaze.

   "The first news I had was when I got a voicemail message from our son, Scott, saying that his house was a big ball of flames and ours must have gone too," Blanchard said, according to PersonnelToday.com.   

During the fire, more than 640,000 people were required to evacuate which affected about 25 percent of the employees at the Ken Blanchard Companies. Even the company’s headquarters were closed for two-and-a-half days.

   The fires, among the worst in California history, have claimed at least seven lives, destroyed 2,000 homes and caused at least $1 billion in damage.

Looking at expanding into Europe? Wondering what to charge?

   Skillfair, a virtual meeting place in the United Kingdom, conducted a survey of consultants in the UK regarding their fees. With 250 responding, following are some of the results.

   “Our questions focussed on establishing typical daily rates and also highlighting the highest and lowest rates people have charged,” said Gill Hunt, founder of Skillfair. “We asked people to identify their most common type of client based on size of the client organisation. The majority work mainly for large corporates and medium sized companies, but a substantial minority work almost entirely with sole traders and micro-businesses.”

   According to the report, the target client has a clear effect on the fee rates that are charged with medium sized businesses and above scoring an average of £865 per day, whereas smaller businesses pay an average of £520. In specific specialties, subject matter experts averaged £395 per day. Human Resources garnered an average of £670 a day. Trainers charged an average of £777 per day. (At the time of this writing, the pound was worth about $2 USD.)

   Another survey, conducted in 2006 by Peter Mayes at TrainerBase in the UK, suggested “there is evidence of a continuing divide between Male and Female trainer rates and that IT trainers along with Regulatory Skills trainers get the lowest daily rate. Expansion of the questioning suggests that there is a north south divide in attainable rates and that the South of England is by far the most popular training region to find clients,” Mayes said. “Whilst there is a high percentage of Sole Traders within the training sector, these trainers do not earn as much as their Limited Liability counterparts. Anecdotal evidence suggests that earnings are being squeezed by an increasing number of trainers entering the market and charging unrealistic daily rates. What is also prevalent is that most trainers discount for volume and for the voluntary sector.”

To request a full copy of the Skillfair report, email ghunt@skillfair.co.uk. Peter Mayes can be contacted at enquiries@trainerbase.co.uk.

E-learning Spending E-xploding

   In just 30 months, Global Industry Analysts predict spending on e-learning in enterprise and education will surpass $52 billion. The report (which you can buy for just under $4K) said this year alone has seen $17.5 billion in purchases in e-learning, according to THE Journal.

   Besides market size, the report covers market trends, challenges, forces driving the market, technologies, types of end users and profiles of e-learning usage broken down by geography.

The United States accounts for about two-thirds of the expenditures and Europe has a 15 percent share. Asia is expected to move from one-quarter to just under one-third of the overall spending by 2010.

   According to THE Journal, “The key driver for e-learning usage is attributed to an increased number of solutions and services. However, the report warns that a lack of interoperability standards could stifle e-learning's growth.”

To see the original story, go to http://www.thejournal.com/articles/21046.

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